... why can you never drive it away the same day?

 

I wondered this too, A few times I have wanted to drive away the same day and I had to wait a week.

 

I would say it is due to the fact that 9 out of 10 cars have no tax/mot or need servicing before delivery. Also most cars are not "prepared" ie. cleaned before being put on the forcourt.
Tis annoying though as once I have bought a new car I WANT IT NOW!

 

Watch for new miles on the speedo, i know someone who bought an evo 9, was told to pick it up a week later, luckily he noted the milage on the odo before leaving, as it had nearly 250 more mile on it when he went back the next week, and i bet they werent easy miles for the car, with it being an evo the garage monkeys will have thrashed it, so my mate told then to stick their evo and went home with his bankers draft in his pocket.

Two weeks later we saw it broke down on the silk road, with a pool of oil rapidly growing underneath it, and we thoroughly enjoyed driving back past pointing and laughting at them! *****

 

Simple, it isn't cost effective to have a car sitting on a forecourt with tax on it. And to get tax, what do you need? A copy of the insurance policy.

 

As said, tax and MOT issue. I took a chance once though and asked can I drive it away as is, without the MOT. Put £40 off the price tag in my back pocket for the MOT and he promised if anything was wrong with it, they'd sort it. I took the chance after giving it a thorough inspection myself, drove it off and passed the MOT straight away Couldnt be bothered driving the 1 hour journey a week later for it again.

 

It's up to the buyer to tax the car though, not the seller.